Everything that starts with "The" in New York Rangers folklore.
A club of the Ranger's stature has earned the right to use "The" to classify events and figures. Here are some of the Ranger's most recognizable determiners.
The Shift: A shift is the common subbing of players every 30 seconds to a minute of ice time in the game of hockey. How could that word be relegated to one single rotation?
Gerard Gallant united "The Kid Line" in the 2022 post-season. Following sup-par regular seasons from Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, and Filip Chytil, they formed a checking line that found a scoring touch as the tournament progressed. In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, June 1st, 2022, this line along with K'Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba never lost the puck in a two-minute shift, wearing down the Tampa Bay Lightning before Filip Chytil ripped a one-timer to put the good guys up 4-2. "The Kid Line, The Shift."
The King: Henrik Lundqvist. You may know him quite well from his GQ magazine covers, or TV appearances for NHL Faceoff on TNT and MSG Network. Or the Garden of Dreams Foundation. Or from his jersey hanging in the rafters at MSG. He's the most famous modern Ranger since "The Core of '94". It's not even close to a debate, it's a fact in Ranger land. Where did the nickname come from? On October 16th, 2005, following a Rangers 5-1 victory over the defunct Atlanta Thrashwe, Larry Brooks of the New York Post penned, "Fast becoming a Broadway folk hero, King Henrik of Sweden took an abbreviated victory lap around the ice while raising his stick and glove in a return salute to the fans who alternately chanted, "Henrik" and "Lundqvist" throughout the match in which the goaltender made several nifty stops among his 28 saves."
The Captain: Mark Messier is the only captain in any professional league to captain two separate clubs to a Stanley Cup championship. He first led the Oilers to victory in 1990 and took on the biggest challenge in NHL history. The Rangers traded for the legend to end a 54-year championship drought. He did and it was capped off by the most ballsy remark in league history.
The Curse:
The Guarantee: A guarantee? That's some car salesman lingo. Only a captain down in a series against a bitter rival would sit in his locker and promise a victory to force a game 7! Imagine reading that news headline. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Rangers faced elimination at the hands of rookie Martin Brodeur and the pesky New Jersey Devils. He publicly remarked, "We'll win game six tonight."
Why is it famous? Down 2-0, Alexei Kovalev cut the lead, followed by Mark Messier scoring a natural hat-trick to back up his words, forcing a Game 7. Gary Thorne lost his mind on the broadcast, "Do you believe it? Do you believe it? He said we will win game six and he has just picked up the hat trick!"
There's Ruth calling his shot. There's Namath's promise, and there's "The Guarantee."
The Save (1994): Mike Richter stopped Pavel Bure on a penalty shot in Game 4 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. Richter made a Gumby-like acrobatic save to stun the prolific scorer.
The Waiting is Over!: Sam Rosen, the voice of the New York Rangers, iconic call when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, "The waiting is over! The New York Rangers are the Stanley Cup Champions! And this one will last a lifetime!"
The Save (2014): In Game 6 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Final, Henrik Lundqvist made a spinning blocker save to preserve the Rangers 1-0 lead. The Rangers won the game, it's the only time following the 1994 championship that the club advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Bread Kick: The Rangers had not employed a superstar forward for a number of years until they made a splash on July 1st, 2019 to sign Artemi Panarin.
The Comeback (x3): In 2014, motivated by Martin St. Louis, the Rangers came back down 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2015, the Rangers were down 3-1 to the Washington Capitals 3-1, where Derek Stepan scored a game 7 overtime goal to send the team to the Eastern Conference Final. In 2022, the Rangers faced elimination at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins down 3-1 but capped off the series with another game 7 overtime goal scored by Artemi Panarin. They never lead a game in the series. Two of the club's three-game 7 overtime goals came in the 2015 and 2022 comebacks.
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